Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, Charterhouse Square, London, EC1M 6BQ, England.
Bull World Health Organ. 2024 Jun 1;102(6):432-439. doi: 10.2471/BLT.23.291013. Epub 2024 Mar 27.
Poor diets are the major cause of death and disease globally, driving high levels of obesity and noncommunicable diseases. Cheap, heavily marketed, ultra-processed, energy-dense and nutrient-poor food and drinks that are high in fat, sugar and salt play a major role. The high-sugar content of these products leads to consumption levels much higher than recommended. The World Health Organization recommends that sugar intake should be reduced to just 5% of energy intake by using fiscal policies and food and drink reformulation strategies. Over the previous decade, the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has implemented several policies aimed at reducing sugar intake. We compare the soft drinks industry levy and the sugar reduction programme, examining how differences in policy design and process may have influenced the outcomes. Success has been mixed: the mandatory levy achieved a reduction in total sugar sales of 34.3%, and the voluntary reduction programme only achieved a 3.5% reduction in sugar levels of key contributors to sugar intake (despite a target of 20%). Both policies can be improved to enhance their impact, for example, by increasing the levy and reducing the sugar content threshold in the soft drinks industry levy, and by setting more stringent subcategory specific targets in the sugar reduction programme. We also recommend that policy-makers should consider applying a similar levy to other discretionary products that are key contributors to sugar intake. Both approaches provide valuable learnings for future policy in the United Kingdom and globally.
不良饮食是导致全球死亡和疾病的主要原因，导致肥胖和非传染性疾病高发。廉价、大量宣传、超加工、高能量、低营养的食品和饮料在其中扮演了主要角色，这些食品和饮料脂肪、糖和盐含量高。这些产品的高含糖量导致其摄入量远远超过推荐量。世界卫生组织建议，通过财政政策和食品及饮料配方改革策略，将糖摄入量减少到总能量摄入的 5%。在过去十年中，大不列颠及北爱尔兰联合王国政府实施了几项旨在减少糖摄入量的政策。我们比较了软饮料行业征税和减糖计划，研究了政策设计和实施过程中的差异如何影响结果。成效喜忧参半：强制性征税使总糖销售量减少了 34.3%，而自愿性减糖计划仅使糖摄入量主要贡献者的糖含量降低了 3.5%（尽管目标是降低 20%）。这两项政策都可以改进，以提高其影响力，例如提高征税，并降低软饮料行业征税中的糖含量门槛，在减糖计划中为更严格的特定子类别的设定具体目标。我们还建议政策制定者考虑对其他可自由支配的产品征收类似税款，这些产品是糖摄入量的主要贡献者。这两种方法都为英国和全球未来的政策提供了宝贵的经验教训。
